Stanford's Lightweight Eight boat would go on to cap a historic season by capturing its first-ever national title at the IRA Championships in early June, upsetting the favored defending champions from Wisconsin. The tone of success was begun in late March, when the lightweights captured their fourth straight A.W. Coggeshall Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic. The Cardinal lightweight eight would get a preview for what it could expect at the IRAs in April, when it suffered an eight-second defeat at the hands of Wisconsin. Stanford's eight would go on to victories over ranked crews from Harvard and MIT on the road to the IRAs, where, in the Grand Final, the Cardinal would set a blazing pace and set a new course record with a national championship-winning time of 6:28.209. The lightweight four would also reach its Grand Final at the IRA Championships, turning in a fifth-place national finish. Head coach Al Acosta was recognized as the CRCA National Lightweight Coach of the Year for the second time in three years, while rowers Mariel Lanas, Gretchen Stumhofer and Genevieve Tuveson were named to the CRCA All-America Team.

Stanford was ninth overall in its previous NCAA trip, in 2003. This time, the Cardinal entered the draw with three solid crews, including the I Eight, which finished second in 2008 and was coming off of a gold medal-winning effort at the 2009 Pac-10 Championships, during which the crew set a Lake Natoma course record with a time of 6:18.6. The Cardinal's hopes for a team national title were buoyed on the second day of competition as the Varsity Four closed the day by holding onto third place in its semifinal and earning the final spot in its Grand Final. The Four's effort meant that all three Stanford boats qualified for the Grand Finals in Cherry Hill, N.J., placing the Cardinal in a prime spot to earn its first NCAA team title. On the final day, the Four and II Eight finished fifth and third, respectively, meaning the I Eight needed to claim victory in its Grand Final to bring the team title to The Farm. The crew led off the line and maintained a lead of just over a second on the trailing boat from Virginia. Over the final 500 meters, the Cardinal crew matched Virginia's surge and crossed the line 0.37 of a second before the Cavaliers to realize Stanford's dream of its first-ever NCAA women's rowing title.